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St. Bartholomew's Hospital

It gives me little pleasure to introduce this Adjournment debate, because a dark cloud hangs over the very existence of one of this country's oldest and most respected hospitals, St. Bartholomew's, known affectionately and universally as Barts. That cloud was thought by all of us who represent constituencies in central and east London to have passed by when eight years ago, the Government announced their strategic medical review of those diverse areas. It has reappeared, however, and it is seemingly blacker than ever. Just before Christmas, the Department of Health announced that it had commissioned a fundamental review of the Barts and The London NHS Trust private finance initiative on the grounds of affordability and need. For a decade or more, the departments of this most respected hospital have been consistently undermined by political uncertainty. Today, the anxiety levels have become almost unbearable for staff, local residents and countless others throughout the NHS, because of the imminent demise of Barts as a leading London hospital. It seems scarcely believable that this wonderful hospital, founded as long ago as 1123, and in receipt of its royal charter from Henry VIII in the 1540s, may soon be no more. Once again, however, that seems to be the case. I take no pride in confessing that it was my party, the Conservative party, who when last in government sought to implement the Tomlinson report. The report was predicated on user figures that applied in the depths of the early 1990s recession, and manifestly have not been borne out by the evidence of the past decade and a half. It is of great regret that my party put in place some of the reforms that have so adversely affected Barts and upset the residential population of not only the City, but the whole of London and much of the UK.